TRA recently completed a market analysis and feasibility testing for a transit oriented development (TOD) overlay/zoning ordinance amendment and guidebook for the City of Albany, NY, a project lead by The Cecil Group, Boston. Interestingly, the City of Albany has one active Bus Rapid Transit Line running from downtown to Schenectady. The Capital Region Transit Authority is proposing two other BRT lines emanating roughly from the same point downtown to other points west. The first line has had great success attracting riders. The question put to the consulting team was how can the BRT lines promote development within the city?

Abstract
In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre area of West Harlem known as Manhattanville. The University’s expansion plan called for the acquisition and demolition of all but three buildings in the project’s footprint and the construction of a state of the art campus over a roughly 30-year period. This article examines the discourses, debates and politics surrounding the project and, in particular, the University’s demand for exclusive control of the site and ultimate pursuit of eminent domain. To that end, university officials claimed that the expansion would bolster the city’s knowledge based economy and, as a conse­quence, serve the “public good”— a requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. By contrast, critics of the project argued for a mixed-use redevelopment plan that would include affordable housing and other community-deined amenities.

A study that examines the history of transit transparency -- the release of transit schedules, routes and real-time feeds for third-party use -- has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

URBANISM & DESIGNIs All This New Ohio City Development Good?
Cleveland Scene
Come Saturday, Ohio City will be bedlam, as it is most Saturdays. The intersection of West 25th and Lorain will be endlessly logjammed as the suburban tourists descend upon the West Side Market with their bags and their strollers and all the force and rancor of the Uruk-hai.